Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-01-16

ne Ventures Out Only Affcr Dark
md Lives on Good Whiskey.


An old cab-driycr, whose face is ia
milar to frcqucntcIs OF the Fifth-Aye-
nuc Hotel, leaned against an electric
6obt pole one night tins week and
mcdtatiycly pulled at twenty-five
cent cigar He blew the smOke through
his nose. tasted it, and went through
all the mauouyrcs Of c0HHoiSScUr.
Give been around this nolghbor-
hood for fifteen years, said ne, land
cyclN night at exactly Il:3O, If / am mt
NV stand, along comes an old thorough
bred and presents me with quarter
ciear He's It gent, he is, not one OF
your SIX for q quarter with bundle OF
cigarettes thrown in
The wind played peculiar tunes
through the lcall,s. branches of Mali
son Square. and the reporter shiycred
IN ms scalshin ulster, and cabby sort OF
turned up his already trncd-up nasal
nppcudaec at sucha display of susccph-
hilitv 10 the weather
" sonny. ne remarked, "NOu news
uapcr-mou think YOU know 1T all, but
We scc more iu week than You do IN
year We 20 In for behind the boards,
YOU know IT'S our calling Now take
my friend. the thoroughbred, for in
stance. Ills is case 1 don't believe
Won ever heard the like of. 1t was in
n that first met him. He was about
fifty years old, bat he looked much old
or ou account of hcinga romderof the
first water Turning into Ihirty-iouth
street one night ] came upon
"a man and woman talking loud,
and when the woman saw me she mo-
toned for me to get down from the
box She WAS an old lady, and she was
GOT MP fine, too. / saw that the man
had Anahosin lis ovcrshoes, and asked
the lady where me- lived. The house
was ON the next block and ] COaXcd INN
home. The mdy was his mother. The
next night at 1870 | was waiting for
party ON Broadway near Iwenty-ilith
street. when my friend came along.
lie recognized me in an instant,
and, stepping into a cigar-store, he
asked for four for n dollar. Then
he handed mc one. He has repeated
that circus every night since, rain or
shine. week days cor holidays, it don't
make % Int ~ difference. He went
through q FORUM. before Do WAS thirty,
and then me- had liberal allowance
from his mother A rounlcr in those
days did more than suck the head of
cane and stand IN front of hotels. He
was hard dtiukcr and slayer every
time. So You sec my thoroughbred
broke down his tailor's bill is paid 10y
his relatives. and hc gets certain
amount of money 10 spend every
day. But hc never comes Out until
after dark, md then hc does nothing
worse than walk around the streets nm
oil or O'Clock m the morning. when
hc gets tired and goes home 10 bed.
lie always carries a flask of whiskcy
with mm-stut1 costing forty cents a
drink over ANY hrst-class bar lie is
iust as sane man as there is, but he
does peculiar Things. Hcncyr goes to
the theatre. and wouldn't carry an UNI
brcila, no matter how hard it uinod.
"Quitc often hc gets me 90 drive him
mp 60 the boulevard at or , o'clock IN
the morning, and ne never gives me
less than double rates. The quccrest
part of the business is that ne never
spoke ten words io me any one night,
and hc always pays for everything with
new money. n YOU saw him pass 10y
YOU would swear he was ninety, hut he
can walk longer than any man ! ever
came across. The policemen all say
that hc las % screw loose but before
she died his mother told me that
the best doctors in the city pronounced
him sane. From carly youth he got in
the habit of staying ont ut night, and
nov n his old age ne can't sleep until |
daylight and then only after tramping
around town. The strmgest thing about !
his drinking is that, while lac is a hard |
drinhcr, hc never goes into q saloon, |
and although he was a rOunder years |
ago hc never enters u dive now. Ioften !
meet linn when the snakes are after him, /
but lac will walk them of, and he comes !
around the next night as usual Iguess |
you never heard of Il case like that, did |
NOu. 0utsidc of Am asylum "